Focus: The Spiritual Walk (Pt.2)

Text: Heb.11:5

"For before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."

Enoch and Noah walked WITH God, and by doing so, they pleased God. God told Abraham to walk BEFORE Him, and he told Eliezer his servant how he walked BEFORE the Lord. 

God says to the children of Israel, "If ye walk IN my statutes… If ye walk AFTER the Lord your God…" In Deuteronomy and other Scriptures, we often read God saying to His people, "Walk IN ALL his ways…" We read in 1Kgs.2:4, "Walk BEFORE me in truth…" The psalmist declares, "I will walk BEFORE the LORD in the land of the living…" (Ps.116:9). He says, "I will walk IN thy truth…"

(Ps.86:11). John writes, "I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking IN truth… I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk IN truth… For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest IN the truth" (2Jh.1:4; 3Jh.1:2,3 ). Again he says, "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk IN the law of the LORD" (Ps.119:1). Nehemiah says to God's people, "Ought ye not to walk IN the fear of our God…?" (Neh.5:9). In Act.9:31, the churches are found "walking IN the fear of the Lord."

Paul talks about the faith of Abraham, and goes on to talk about us "who also walk IN the steps of that faith of our father Abraham" (Rom.4:12). He says that as believers in Christ, "we also should walk IN newness of life" (Rom.6:4). As believers in Jesus Christ, we "walk not after the flesh, but AFTER the Spirit" (Rom.8:4). Paul implores us, "Let us walk HONESTLY" (Rom.13:13). He says, "AS the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk" (1Cor.7:17). He declares, "(For we walk BY faith, not by sight:)… Walk IN the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh…If we live IN the Spirit, let us also walk IN the Spirit… And as many as walk ACCORDING to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy…" (2Cor.5:7; Gal.5:18,25; 6:16). 

In Eph.2:10, God has ordained us to walk IN good works. In chapter 4:1, Paul says, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk WORTHY of the vocation wherewith ye are called… That ye might walk WORTHY of the Lord unto all pleasing… That ye walk WORTHY of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory…" In Eph.4:17, Paul says, "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not AS other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind." Paul also declares, "And walk IN love, as Christ also hath loved us… For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk AS children of light… See then that ye walk CIRCUMSPECTLY, not as fools, but as wise… As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye IN him… Walk IN wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time… That ye may walk HONESTLY toward them that are without" (Eph.5:2,8,15; Col.1:10; 2:6; 4:5; 1Thes.2:12; 4:12). John writes, "But if we walk in the light… He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even AS he walked… And this is love, that we walk AFTER his commandments. This is commandment, That, AS ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk IN it" (1Jh.1:12; 2:6; 2Jh.1:6).

All these are dimensions of walking with God and pleasing Him. It is in walking with God that we feel fulfilled as people made in His own image and redeemed by the blood of Christ. In walking with God we experience oneness with Him as well as realize our true humanity. Walking with God is our destiny. We walk in Christ, walk in God's word, and walk in His will and in His ways. This indeed is the spiritual walk!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter